The 12 days of GCHQ quizmas: test your brain power with these daily puzzles

Final Fantasy XV will abandon 'difficulty' for player freedom

Final Fantasy XV has been so long in the making that it was once an entirely different game. After more than a decade in development, fans of the series have plenty of questions -- questions that publisher Square Enix has begun addressing on its official forums.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Episode Duscae extended demo has served as an introduction to the open-world RPG's characters, storyline, and gameplay mechanics, giving players enough insight to pose questions on the final game. Square Enix has answered three submitted questions, covering the scale of the game, exploration, and difficulty.

Final Fantasy XV sees protagonist Noctis using warp points to dart around the map, teleporting in straight lines as if on a grappling line. Asked if larger structures or environments will have multiple warps built into their design, lead level designer Terada Takefumi said "Of course they will! The warp ability ... is a vital part of FFXV's battle system. The ability to use multiple warp points in a strategic manner is especially prevalent in the game's large scale battles over urban terrain. It is not just the buildings though, and we have also created exciting aerial battles with flying foes and gigantic boss enemies, so watch out for those."

Read more

Hands on with Final Fantasy XV's opening chapters

ByMatt Kamen

Predecessor Final Fantasy XIII and its sequels dabbled with large scale aerial battles, though mostly in the form of vaguely interactive cutscenes rather than complete fights. XV's ambition here sounds promising, and the ultimate monster tackled in the Episode Duscae demo indicates the development team is on the right track.

Aside from the Duscae region, little has been said on the game's other locations so far. Asked about new explorable settings, planner Ishikawa Tomonori revealed details on Altissia, a Venice-inspired locale, bustling with activity. "Altissia has many and varied locations, such as multiple cafes, ship-bourne market places and parks. The city is of a considerable scale, to the extent that even the developers sometimes get lost there!" Tomonori said. "The player is free to take a leisurely walk around the complex maze of streets, or ride the gondola to see the sights and there is also added enjoyment to be had looking for restaurants to visit! You are bound to encounter some unique characters when exploring the city streets. So we have created lots of different things to enjoy in Altissia and hope everyone is looking forward to visiting!"

ADVERTISEMENT

One of the biggest changes coming in Final Fantasy XV is its almost entirely real-time battles. Enemies will be encountered and fought on the field, rather than in separate fight screens, and experience is only earned when your party sets up camp. This has fired up a round of questioning on difficulty and progression in the game -- specifically, how it will compare to previous Final Fantasy games. "The equivalent to difficulty level settings in FFXV is a system where you can switch between different battle modes," wrote lead game designer Takizawa Masahi. "By having this ability to switch modes, we want to make it so that both players who like action oriented, technical gameplay and also those who want to fight at a slower, more relaxed pace can all enjoy the combat in their own style. This switching system is a key part of the gameplay that we decided to introduce based on the feedback we received from the Episode Duscae demo. We will go into more detail about the system closer to the game's launch so stay tuned for more information."

One thing Final Fantasy XV still won't have is playable female characters. Director Hajime Tabata has previously described the game to WIRED as a "bromance", wanting to keep the focus on lead Noctis and his travelling companions Ignis, Gladiolus, and Prompto. Tabata has confirmed the party will meet "quite a lot of female characters" on their journey though, and not just as love interests. Whether that will be enough for the vocal fanbase will be seen when the full game arrives, later in 2016.